Weir: Ken Hodge – Homebuilder Extraordinaire

As I begin this profile of someone I greatly admire, I must admit in the interest of full disclosure, that Ken Hodge and his utterly charming wife Pat, have been dear friends of mine for decades.

Ken is undoubtedly one of the most prominent custom home builders in North Texas. Going back to the early 1970s, Ken was putting his designer skills and quality standards onto the landscapes of Flower Mound and all of its contiguous towns and cities. If you could afford a Ken Hodge home you were treated to some of the most artistic architectural designs, along with highly-skilled craftsmanship, inside and out. In addition, Ken, being one of the most fastidious people I’ve ever known, is a hands-on type of builder, meaning he oversees every strip of wood, every nail and every decorative stone that makes its way into an edifice constructed by his company.

As you may know, Ken built the magnificent upscale community in Flower Mound known as Point Noble, around Grapevine Lake. When Ken bought the land around the lake several years earlier, he discovered several stone cabins that had been built during the 1930s. Some of the cabins were destroyed during the land clearing in preparation for home sites. But, when it was learned that there was a history behind the small, well-fortified enclosures, Ken and Pat decided to preserve two of them.

While dining at his elegant estate sometime later, Ken began telling me about a Dallas gambler/gangster that was part of the Benny Binion mob during the 1930s and 40s. His name was Herb Noble and he also owned a large ranch in the area that is now known as Flower Mound. (In newspaper reports during the bloody five-year feud between Benny Binion and Herb Noble, our town had not been founded yet, hence, it was referred to as “the area north of Grapevine.”) The cabins were built on Noble’s property as a place to gamble outside of Dallas and to protect high rollers from being robbed during all night poker games.

Ken also provided me with a lot of research material he had gathered and asked if I was interested in writing a book about it. Less than a year later, in 1999, “City to Die For” was published. The book chronicles the years from 1946 to 1951, during an era of bloody violence that became national news. Okay, enough about me, let’s get back to Ken.

He continues to develop properties in the area, working out of his office in Fountain Park. Just a stone’s throw north of Lakeside DFW, Ken Hodge Custom Homes Inc. is at 1013 Long Prairie Road, Suite 100.

Speaking of Lakeside, Ken and Pat, along with scores of others who have purchased condos, are waiting for the Tower at Lakeside to be completed in order for them to move in.

The following is a list of some of Ken’s accomplishments during his career.

1. Building and developing homes and subdivisions for 46 years.
2. Double Oak, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Lewisville, Trophy Club, Highland Village.
3. Hundreds of Custom Homes built and hundreds of acres developed.
4. Commercial Office Parks and garden offices
5. Boards –City Council-Double Oak, Main Street Advisory Board-Lewisville, Symphony Board-Lewisville, Foundation Board-CCA, Development Review Board-Flower Mound, Executive Review Committee-Flower Mound, Mayor’s Business Review Board-Flower Mound

6. Developed Projects –Whispering Oaks-Double Oak, Brown Cliff Court-Double Oak, Taylor Oaks-Double Oak, Wolf Hill Estates-Bartonville, Canyon Oaks I & II-ETJ Copper Canyon, Wichita Creek I & II-Flower Mound, Point Noble-Flower Mound, Vilamoura-Flower Mound, Whisper Creek-Flower Mound, Vista Villas-Lewisville, Morriss Road Office Park-Flower Mound, Fountain Park Office Park-Flower Mound, North Point Center-Flower Mound